This Miami-based art curator launched ARTSail, a residency for artists which sheds light on global warming through creativity

Six years ago, Ombretta Agró Andruff was seeking change from her fast-paced life in New York. She came to Miami thinking it would be temporary. That idea turned out to be short lived. Instead, Miami became home for the environmentalist-curator and she has been making waves in her industry ever since.

THE ART AND THE SAIL

Italian born and raised in Torino, Agró Andruff spent her summers at her family’s estate in the coastal region of Sardinia. When she moved to Miami, she found herself reconnected with the ocean — a match made in heaven. An art curator for the past twenty years, Agró Andruff served on numerous boards including IKT, the International Association of Contemporary Art Curators, and the Art in Public Places Committee for the City of Miami Beach.

In 2015, she decided to merge her interests, creating a business plan, partnering with the ArtCenter/South Florida (now Oolite Arts) and applying for a grant through the Knight Foundation to launch what may become her ultimate legacy; ARTSail, a program and residency for artists that educates people about global warming issues through artistic collaborations and interaction with marine experts and scientists.

Merging art, science and the sea, ARTSail brings an artist to Miami for one month to focus on a specific environmental project that the artist proposes upon application. Agró Andruff’s team provides tools and arranges excursions — whether it is to dive in the reefs to monitor bleaching or to study and explore the Everglades — resulting in inspired artworks that have an enduring value as a form of advocacy.

BEST LAID PLANS

When not working on ARTSail, Agró Andruff clears her mind simply by swimming in the bay and riding her Harley Davidson. Outdoorsy by nature, she enjoys kitesurfing — that if she isn’t listening to live jazz at The Betsy Hotel or having her favorite cocktail at The Broken Shaker. She considers the Miami Beach spot “shabby chic, just like me!”

Ultimately, spending time with artists is what truly “floats her boat.” Currently, she is working with her dear friend and renowned artist Antonia Wright on a project called “WWWW - Suffer in Style” that will be the next ARTSail residency. The two plan to produce a luxury chain of accessories inspired by environmental causes in an effort to make climate change more stylish. “It is about talking about dark issues with irony and humor,” she says, “while making it all — art, fashion, etc. — as accessible as Mother Nature.”